By Surihe Gaomas
GOBABIS
Twelve bodies of San people, who have remained unclaimed for over a year at the Gobabis Hospital State Mortuary, were given a mass burial in Gobabis on Sunday.
The identified bodies have been in the mortuary for a long time due to the fact that families or relatives have been unable to pay for the funeral costs as well as coffins.
In light of this situation, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Libertina Amathila through her ongoing San Development Project sought coffin donations from a local coffin manufacturing company Polyflora Namibia, who provided the much-needed caskets for the mass burial.
Amathila, who has been crusading for San rights, officiated at the sombre event.
The deceased, who all originated from the Omaheke Region, have been identified as Johannes Gamseb, Dina Geinamseb, Johannes David, Nauiko Christof, Martha Kharuchas, Thomas Rooi, Piet Afrikaaner, and Petrus Kasab.
Lena Kambari, Magdalena Jager, Elias Jonathan and Lesley Eiseb. The ages of the victims ranged from 10 to 89.
Some of the bodies had remained unclaimed since January and April last year, while the set medical procedure is that bodies cannot be kept for longer than three weeks in a mortuary.
All 12 deceased were buried at the town’s location cemetery situated next to Rop Block squatter settlement, where close to 100 sympathizers and mourners were in attendance that morning.
Councilor of the Omaheke Regional Council Mati Ndjoze said it was unfortunate that the San people were unable to bury their dead with dignity.
He attributed this to poverty and unemployment.
“The San people are the poorest community in the country and the generous gesture of burying them this way under the San Programme is helping to alleviate the problem.
“For most of them this is an immediate solution to the problem,” said Ndjoze.
He said most of the bodies remain unclaimed for a long time, even for close to two years because relatives and families were unable to afford the caskets and funeral arrangements.
In light of this situation, Governor of the Omaheke Region Laura Macleod said at the funeral ceremony that the plight of the San needed the attention of all Namibians.
“It is therefore our collective responsibility as patriotic citizens of Namibia to ensure that the San are brought on par with all other communities so that they can take charge of their livelihood,” said Macleod.
When New Era visited the burial site yesterday, a couple of San could be seen looking at the recent graves.
Asked why the San are unable to bury their dead, 26-year-old Magdaleni //Kheixas said “it’s now become like a throw away burial” for the majority of these people.
“We the San are throwing away our own people by not at least trying to bury them ourselves, even if it means to sell goods to earn some small money,” said the young woman.
“Maybe these ones died from sickness and the family threw them away,” said //Kheixas.
For others like Frans Matiki and Edward Mubebane, the gesture by government to have a mass burial was good, but does not solve the problem in the long run.
“This kind of help has now brought along a problem for us as people now say, they will not do anything but leave everything to government to bury our dead,” was Matiki’s comment.
According to them, what used to happen was that prisoners would bury the unclaimed bodies at the town’s mortuary where they even place “10 bodies in one grave”.
The cause of death of the 12 deceased who were buried over the weekend is not known. A senior medical officer refused to comment, citing confidentiality.